JOSÉ MARTINS BARATA DE CASTILHO
(CASTILHO, WAS OFFICIALLY ADDED ON AUGUST 2011)
ARTISTIC NAME: JOSÉ BARATA DE CASTILHO
LIVING: CASTELO BRANCO - PORTUGAL  
WORKS: SEVERAL TECHNIQUES, SIGNED BARATA/ OR BARATA Cº/

I paint what I feel. The media themes interested me for several works that I exhibited. But I feel also an appeal for contemplation and reflection.
Abstract painting made sense when it was created, for example Kandinsky's works, because it resulted from a research. Nowadays, sustaining that this is the only acceptable pictorial expression should seem excessive. Painting with content will be a means of communication with those who are less attentive to the persistent great comedy that goes on and on.
I defend painting with content and as an understandable language, depending on the ways the art enjoyer can capture it. Irony can be assumed as an attitude hostile to the negative realities that surround us. It is almost always present in my paintings, because I feel an unrestrained urge to criticise the usual falsity of the global economic and social system. Face to this, it is preferable to laugh, to play, to dream, to see beyond. I paint what I feel I should paint.
 José Barata de Castilho - 2021